Is anything better on a rainy day then a big bowl of warm Indian food? This Coconut Cashew Chicken is similar to a butter chicken but made with creamy coconut milk instead of real cream. It’s comforting, warm and makes being forced to stay inside a little bit better right now.
I’ve been craving butter chicken since our favorite Indian restaurant closed. Looking through my cupboard, I realized I didn’t have most of the Indian spices most recipes require. I don’t know about you guys but going to a grocery store right now gives me MAJOR anxiety. I’ll do anything I can to avoid going. I like to stick to the corner store down the street when possible, but unfortunately they didn’t carry the spices I needed.
With that being said, I was still determined to make something similar. After researching the spices in the spices I didn’t have, I gathered up what I had on hand and experimented. I decided to use coconut cream instead of real cream. Using the coconut cream gave it more flavor and tasted amazing with the spices I was using. What resulted was an extremely creamy and flavorful sauce.
I made Half Baked Harvests Herbed Garlic Butter Naan to go with this meal. It was so much fun to make! Super easy and came together so quickly. Definitely week night friendly. It went perfectly with this Coconut Cashew Chicken. If you are in a time crunch store bought naan would be good as well!
The key to making this sauce as creamy as possible is to soak the cashews before blending them. Blending soaked cashews will result in a creamy cashew cream. This will give a bit of a nutty flavor to the sauce and really thicken it up. Plus it will add a bit of a nutty flavor.
Coconut Cashew Chicken
Ingredients
Coconut Cashew Chicken
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 lb chicken breast, cut into small chunks
- 3 tablespoons butter
- 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 cup unsalted cashews, soaked for at least 1 hr
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons ground coriander
- 2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper (more if you like it spicyyy)
- ½ teaspoon salt (more to taste)
- a couple of rounds of pepper, to taste
- pinch of nutmeg
- 1 15.5oz can of crushed tomatoes
- 1 15.5oz can of unsweetened coconut milk
- juice from 1 lime
- 2 cups spinach
- handful of chopped cilantro, for serving
- 4 cups cooked rice, for serving
- 8 pieces garlic naan, homemade or store bought (recipe link above!)
Instructions
To Make the Coconut Cashew Chicken
- In a large pan set over medium heat add the olive oil. When hot add the chicken and cook until lightly browned, around 8 minutes. Set aside.
- In the same pan add the butter and let it melt. Scrape up the brown bits from the chicken into it, this will give the butter a ton of flavor. Add the chopped onions and cook until translucent, around 5 minutes.
- While the onions are cooking add the soaked cashews to a high powered blender. Blend until smooth, around 30 seconds. Set aside.
- Add the garlic to the onions and cook until fragrant, around 1-2 minutes. Add the spices, salt and pepper to coat the onions. Cook for an additional minute. Add the crushed tomatoes, cashew cream, lime juice and stir.
- Carefully add the sauce to a high speed blender. Blend the mixture until smooth, around 30 seconds. Return the sauce to the original pan over medium heat and add the coconut cream. Mix the coconut cream into the sauce. Add the chicken and spinach to the sauce. Cover the pan to wilt the spinach, around 5 minutes. Stir the wilted spinach into the sauce and cook for an additional 5 minutes, until the sauce has slightly thickened.
- Serve over rice with garlic naan and cilantro. Enjoy!